Ayyapuram becomes the flashpoint for one of the worst communal clashes in Tamil Nadu

They were like medieval invaders. Two thousand men marched towards Ayyapuram, a tiny hamlet in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, with flaming torches, spears and scythes. With the savagery of Huns they stormed into the village, flinging their torches of destruction on the thatched houses and chopping down anything that came in their path.

Five people including a woman were hacked to death and 21 injured as the bloody orgy continued till 50 houses were razed to the ground. The bloodthirsty mob in the full force of its fury, was at last dispersed by a 200-strong force of policemen.

With dense smoke billowing from smouldering houses, ravaged Ayyapuram became the flashpoint for the worst communal clashes in Tamil Nadu since the wave of Harijan conversions to Islam engulfed the state last year.

The gruesome massacre brought home the extent of the reaction to the conversions of 1,000 Harijans in Meenakshipuram (25 km from Ayyapuram) in February last year that triggered off a series of such conversions elsewhere in the state.

Puliangudi, a sleepy village 5 km from Ayyapuram, became the focal point of last fortnight's clashes between Harijans and Hindus that spread like a prairie fire to all the surrounding villages, including Meenakshipuram. In the week-long battle between the two communities last month, nine people were killed and more than 500 houses burnt in the mindless violence. The Tamil Nadu Government rushed a 600-strong police force headed by an inspector-general to soothe feelings and restore calm in the troubled areas.

A burnt-out Harijan house in Ayyapuram: gruesome massacre

Communal Tension: Although the wave of violence has subsided, the threat of another outburst which could engulf the entire district - as one police officer fears - still hangs like a spectre over the ravaged villages. The charged atmosphere enveloping the affected villages and tight-lipped bureaucrats made the cause of the outbursts difficult to analyse.

But ever since the Meenakshipuram conversions, tension has been building up in these villages. Harijans, who form an estimated 50 per cent of the population in the villages around Meenakshipuram, have finally gathered courage with the support of local Muslims. They are raising their voices against the suffocating discrimination that the caste Hindus have allegedly practised against them.

The first signs of their militancy showed itself early this year when on January 10 a nebulous organisation of Muslims and Harijans called Samuthuva Sahodarathva Sangham (SSS) - an association for equality and brotherhood - was formed by A. Shahul Hameed, the lone Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) member in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, who was elected from Kadayanallur taluk 10 km from Puliangudi, ironically supported by the opposition front which included the dmk and the Congress(I).

Hameed is the convener of the Tirunelveli-based South India Islamic Society which was responsible for the Meenakshipuram conversions. The SSS was formed mainly to bring about greater amity between Harijans and Muslims as a first step to the former's conversion. Meanwhile the Harijans in Puliangudi organised themselves into an association called Thalthapattor Nalla Urimai Sangham (Association for the Welfare of the Downtrodden) on March 24, which lent support to the SSS.

Said E. Samuel, the Sangham's young general secretary: "We had decided we would shed our blood to gain equality with other castes." To symbolise their militancy they designed a red and green flag. While the red stood for their blood the green was supposed to mean equality but its similarity to the green of the IUML flag was too close to be a coincidence.

The Sangham then started mobilising Harijans in other villages and on April 4 organised a massive convention which representatives of 90 surrounding villages attended. The convention decided that all the 76 sub-castes of Harijans would put up a unified struggle for equality.Collision Course: The unusual defiance by the Harijans brought together the other Hindu caste groups, mainly the Thevars or Marawas, Nadars, Konars, Pillais and Moopanars who were basically divided. But more significantly, it is supposed to have brought the Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (rss) on the scene; they have established a base at Tenkasi, 30 km from Puliangudi.

The clashes between Hindus and Christians in March last in Madakadu village in neighbouring Kanyakumari district had also facilitated the RSS's establishment in the "conversion zone".

District Collector Hira talking to villagers

While the loosely knit joint associations of caste Hindus claimed that their relations with the Harijans were cordial, they accused the Muslims of driving a wedge between them. Said M. Sankarapandian Pillai, a former MP and town Congress(I) president: "The alarming activities of the SSS, aimed at transforming Puliangudi into another Meenakshipuram, forced us to come together despite political differences."

Things worsened when Harijans pulled down all flags on their streets and put up their green and red banner. The Hindus retaliated by putting up yellow flags with the 'Om' symbol on top of their houses. Then on June 8 two unfortunate coincidences sparked off the riots: a meeting was organised by the SSS at Kadayanallur which was to be addressed by the president of the IUML Suleiman Sait at 10 p.m.

On the same day the Gnana Ratham, a mobile unit for the propagation of the Hindu religion designed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad was to arrive. The mobile unit was equipped with sophisticated audio-visual equipment such as a photophone slide projector, a 16 mm film projector and pre-recorded cassettes of devotional songs and discourses.

Two contradictory versions are given by the communities as to what caused the riots. The caste Hindus maintain that the Ratham was prevented from going through the streets by Harijans who on the next day damaged one of its supporting pillars. The Harijans claim that while they were attending the SSS meeting they were stoned by the Marawa community in a village called Chokampatti.

The Marawas on their part claim that it was the inflammatory speech of Suleiman Sait at the SSS meeting that sparked off the violence. Asked about the real cause of the riots District Collector Nirmal Singh Hira said: "I don't know. We are investigating."

Violence: But over the next week Harijans became the main targets for attack. Police burst tear gas shells the next day to disperse a mob of Harijans which had gathered around the town's police station. Then a Harijan policeman travelling in a bus was stabbed seriously. The same day a textile shop belonging to a Marawa was looted.

On June 10 a mob of Harijans was said to have raided the town police station and police opened fire killing two of them. Even as peace was being restored, 200 houses belonging to both Muslims and Hindus were set on fire. Both communities blame each other for the incident while district officials do not say which group was the real culprit.

Hira promulgated Section 144, Cr. PC, banning the gathering of more than five persons and the carrying of dangerous weapons. But the next day the Ayyapuram massacre took place and the officials are unable to explain how 2,000 people were allowed to gather in daylight and storm the village - particularly Ayyapuram, a Harijan village.

In the next three days violence spread to Velaigoundenpatti where 18 Harijan houses were burnt; then to Muthuswamypuram where 30 houses were razed to the ground; and finally to Rajapalayam. The wave of violence moved southwards to Vasudevanallur and threatened to engulf the taluks of Tenkasi, Sivagiri and Shenkottah.

When on June 13 a mosque was burnt in Meenakshipuram it looked as if the riots would explode into a communal carnage. But intensive police patrolling with a flag march being taken out every day in most of the villages and a series of peace meetings finally brought an uneasy calm. Shopkeepers who had shut down their establishments for a week cautiously opened them. The streets which had worn a deserted look slowly filled up as the villages limped back to normalcy.

Deterioration: But the bitterness lingers on, and both sides are unrelenting. The Harijans who bore the brunt of the riots are angry and sullen. Samuel warned: "If the Government does not look after our welfare we will convert our faith and embrace Islam." Meanwhile the Hindus and Muslims continue to blame one another for the events. Shahul Hameed of SSS blames the RSS for instigating the violence, and in turn the Hindus accuse "Muslim fanatics" for sparking off the riots.

However belated the reaction to these communal incidents, the state Government has stepped up its pressure on the warring elements by threatening to invoke the National Security Act to detain suspects. The Secretary of the Communist Party of India Govindan Nair told newsmen in Madras last month that the conversions of Harijans had proved 'counter-productive' because of 'Hindu backlash'.

The state Congress Committee(I) President M.P. Subramaniam has demanded a judicial inquiry into the incidents and called for a meeting of the heads of all religious and political parties to find a solution. But with neither side willing to forget if not forgive, the situation may soon develop into what S.K.T. Ramachandran, a former general secretary of the state Congress(I) describes as "a war between extremists".

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